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The Fifth Set of Ministerial Instructions: Temporary Pause on Certain Federal Skilled Worker and on Federal Immigrant Investor Applications

Summary

The authorities placed a temporary pause on receiving fresh applications under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). This pause came into effect on July 01, 2012. This pause affected all fresh applications received under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) excluding:

Applications received under the PhD eligibility stream and,

Applications that have a qualifying offer of Arranged Employment (AE)

The authorities also placed a temporary pause on new applications received under the federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP).

Issue

This Operational Bulletin guides officers on processing:

Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applications and,

The federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) applications

It instructs officers on the manner in which to process these applications under the fifth set of Ministerial Instructions (MI-5). The fifth set of Ministerial Instructions (MI-5) came into effect on July 01, 2012.

This Operational Bulletin (OB) contains instructions on processing the following applications, based on whether the authorities received them before or after July 01, 2012:

Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applications and,

The federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) applications

Background

The authorities amended the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) on June 18, 2008. The amendments gave the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration the authority to issue certain instructions. These instructions would serve to ensure that officers processed applications in a manner that would meet the immigration goals set by the Government of Canada, in the best possible way, in the Minister’s opinion.

The fifth set of Ministerial Instructions (MI-5) came into effect on July 01, 2012. It contained changes made to the immigration categories listed below.

The Federal Skilled Worker Class

The authorities have placed a temporary pause on the new applications received in this class

The only exceptions to this pause are:

Applications received under the PhD eligibility stream and,

Applications that have a qualifying offer of Arranged Employment (AE)

The Federal Immigrant Investor Class

The authorities have placed a temporary pause on the new applications received in this class

These temporary pauses in accepting new applications will remain in effect unless specified otherwise in a future Ministerial Instruction.

A certain Ministerial Instruction has also been in effect since July 01, 2011. This Instruction places a temporary pause on all new applications received under the Federal Entrepreneur Class. Similarly, another set of Ministerial Instructions came into effect on November 05, 2011. These Instructions placed a temporary pause on all new sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents in the Family Class.

Readers might need to refer to the entire text of the fifth set of Ministerial Instructions (MI-5). They could view this at the website of the Canada Gazette.

The Processing Instructions

With effect from July 01, 2012, officers would not accept any new Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applications for processing, excluding:

Applications received under the PhD eligibility stream and,

Applications that have a qualifying offer of Arranged Employment (AE)

Similarly, officers would not accept any new federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) applications on or after July 01, 2012.

These temporary pauses have no effect on certain applications. The applications that officers would continue to accept include:

Applications from skilled workers selected by the province of Quebec and,

Investors selected under the Quebec Investor Program

Therefore, officers would continue to accept these applications. In addition, officers would process these applications in accordance with the:

Policies of the province of Quebec and,

Established priorities

The Process Applicable for Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) Applications Received on or after July 01, 2012

Foreign nationals who have a qualifying offer of Arranged Employment (AE) in Canada and,

Eligible international students, who are currently enrolled in, or who have completed a doctoral (PhD) program:

From a recognised post-secondary institution in Canada and,

Not more than 12 months prior to the date on which the authorities receive their application

Situations could arise where the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney, Nova Scotia, receives applications on or after July 01, 2012 such as the:

Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applications and,

The federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) applications

In this situation, officers would need to return these applications to the applicants. In addition, officers would need to send a letter to the applicants. The letter should notify the applicants about the temporary pause in the receipt of fresh applications.

Officers would also need to return the processing fees in full to all the applicants.

The Limit Applicable on the Number of PhD Eligibility Stream Applications that Require Processing

The Centralised Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney, Nova Scotia, will also continue to receive applications under the PhD eligibility stream. Here, the officers would continue to accept complete applications. They would also continue to process them until they reach the annual cap of 1,000. This is in accordance with the guidelines prescribed via the Ministerial Instructions. As mentioned earlier, these Ministerial Instructions came into effect on November 05, 2011.

The current cap year for the PhD stream concludes on October 31, 2012. Therefore, the authorities will automatically reset the cap on November 01, 2012. This would be applicable unless specified otherwise in a future Ministerial Instruction.

The Process Applicable for Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) Applications Received prior to July 01, 2012

The Centralised Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney, Nova Scotia, would not accept any Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applications for processing, except:

Applications received under the PhD eligibility stream and,

Applications that have a qualifying offer of Arranged Employment (AE)

This is regardless of the date of receipt at the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney, Nova Scotia. This is because the authorities have reached the global application cap of 1,000 applications. This cap covered the period from July 01, 2011 to June 30, 2012.

Similarly, the officers would not accept any new federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) applications for processing. This is regardless of the date of receipt at the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney, Nova Scotia. This is because the authorities have reached the global application one-year cap of 700 applications. This cap covered the period from July 01, 2011 to June 30, 2012.

The Process Applicable for Humanitarian and Compassionate Requests

Officers will not process any requests they might receive based on Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds from outside Canada. This is in case they receive such requests along with any permanent resident application affected by Ministerial Instructions. This is because the Ministerial Instructions do not explicitly identify such cases for processing.